“How many times does someone have to lie to you before you call them a liar?” podcaster and independent journalist <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tim-pool">Tim Pool</a> asks in a recent PragerU video.
Pool goes through several prominent cases of mainstream media outlets misrepresenting major national news stories, and suggests that said organizations do not deserve the blanket trust that some Americans still give them.
He specifically cites the Michael Brown shooting in 2014, where media portrayed Brown as a ‘gentle giant’ who was shot by a racist police after pleading for his life with the famous — and fictitious — line “hands up, don’t shoot!”.
In reality, Brown had just robbed a convenience store and had violently assaulted officer Darren Wilson, punching him and reaching for his gun. A local grand jury and a federal probe by the Justice Department under the Obama administration found that Wilson had justifiably used lethal force in self defense.
“The whole story was manufactured by the media.” Pool observed. “It wasn’t the first time. It wouldn’t be the last.” 

Pool outlined other major scandals, such as the big tech suppression of Hunter Biden’s &#8220;laptop from hell&#8221; during the 2020 election, and the mainstream media’s insistence that it was &#8220;Russian disinformation.&#8221; In a similar vein, Pool zeroes in on the &#8220;Russia Hoax&#8221; that dominated the aftermath of the 2016 election.
“The biggest whopper of them all was the Russia Hoax, the entirely made up story that Donald Trump the candidate, then Donald Trump the President of the United States, was a Russian Agent. This dark fantasy preoccupied the legacy media for 3 years.”
Pool notes that most of the reporting on this issue was sourced from opposition research funded by the Clinton campaign that was totally baseless — the New York Times and the Washington Post would both win Pulitzer Prizes for that baseless reporting.
Pool advised listeners to seek out information from across the political spectrum, and to critically evaluate the motives and credibility of their sources.
“If someone or some news source lies over and over again, you may not want to trust them.”
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Lying Liars" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e2HvetIkdLk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;

E36B4835-38DB-4F25-A0DA-6F44F5E248C9

WATCH: Tim Pool Calls Out ‘Lying Liars’ In Legacy Media

Legacy Media

Mainstream Media

Media Bias

Prager University

Tim Pool

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/duggar-family">Jessa Duggar Seewald</a> just revealed some intimate details about her recent miscarriage, which led to at least one news publication reporting that she had an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/abortion">abortion</a> instead.
The 30-year-old former <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">reality star</a> updated fans via a <a href="https://youtu.be/WVUe7I-74zk">YouTube</a> post called “Heartbreak Over the Holidays,” which detailed what happened. Seewald said she experienced spotting during her pregnancy and then visited her OB/GYN. There, she and her husband, Ben, were told they had lost the baby.
&#8220;Nothing could have prepared me for the weight of those words in that moment,&#8221; Jessa said in the video. &#8220;At that moment I was just in complete shock. I didn&#8217;t have words. I just immediately started crying.&#8221;
&#8220;I feel like in some ways miscarriages can be so jarring because you don&#8217;t have clear signs of something going wrong,&#8221; she went on. &#8220;I had minimal spotting for 24 hours, and that was it.&#8221; 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Heartbreak Over the Holidays" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WVUe7I-74zk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The mother of four said her doctor recommended a D&amp;C procedure rather than waiting for the deceased child to pass naturally for fear of hemorrhaging. Seewald said just before the procedure began, she &#8220;was able to thank God in that moment for giving us this life, even if we wouldn&#8217;t be able to hold this baby in our arms.&#8221;
Certain publications and critics used this opportunity to make a case for abortion. They dubbed Seewald a hypocrite for being pro-life and undergoing the procedure while ignoring one important fact. Miscarriage occurs when a child dies in the womb naturally. In some cases, a D&amp;C procedure (dilation and curettage, used to remove tissue from the uterus) is done to remove the already deceased baby. This is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dont-believe-pro-abortion-misinformation-what-to-know-about-ectopic-pregnancy-miscarriage-and-more">not the same</a> as an abortion procedure that intentionally kills a living unborn child. 
No pro-life laws prohibit procedures after miscarriage or those which treat non-viable ectopic pregnancies.
“Health care for me but not for thee: a Duggar had an abortion,” the headline from <a href="https://arktimes.com/news/2023/02/26/health-care-for-me-but-not-for-thee-a-duggar-had-an-abortion">Arkansas Times</a> proclaims. <a href="https://parade.com/news/jessa-duggar-seewald-life-saving-abortion-youtube-video-february-2023">Parade</a> also inaccurately describes the D&amp;C procedure Seewald had, writing in their headline, “Jessa Duggar Reveals She Had a Life-Saving Abortion in Emotional New Video.”
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-113387">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
Social media followers also piled on, insisting Seewald had an abortion. In the YouTube video, the “Counting On” star shows an ultrasound screen depicting an image of the unborn child without a heartbeat prior to the procedure, clearly showing the baby was already deceased. 
&#8220;Just want to point out Jessa Duggar got what is considered an illegal abortion in Arkansas, as it was not too (sic) save the mother&#8217;s life. It appears she may have also not done the 72 hour waiting &amp; counselling (sic) period,” one Twitter user wrote. “Remember abortion will always be ‘legal’ for the wealthy.”
But many social media users pointed out that the procedure Seewald had was not, in fact, an abortion at all. 
“Removing a dead baby from the womb after miscarriage is not abortion, and everyone knows that. The way pro aborts are using Jessa Duggar&#8217;s tragedy to justify their murder is monstrous,” one person <a href="https://twitter.com/abbythelibb_/status/1630155294243188737">shared</a>.
&#8220;The comments here show why pro-abortion folk redefine words AND why they&#8217;re so good at it,&#8221; another commenter <a href="https://twitter.com/tylerroark/status/1630087410833817601">wrote</a>. &#8220;Everyone absolutely knows that she&#8217;s against killing babies in the womb, and that this is different, but now the argument is about the definition rather than the truth.&#8221;

Young Asian pregnant woman lying on sofa at home, looking at the ultrasound scan photo of her baby. Mother-to-be. Expecting a new life concept

Media Claims Jessa Duggar Had An Abortion When She Really Had A Miscarriage, Sparking Outcry From Fans

Abortion

Celebrities

Duggar Family

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> commented on social media that the nation’s <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/education" target="_blank" rel="noopener">education</a> system and <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/mainstream-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">media</a> atmosphere are “racist” against white and Asian people.
The remarks from the world’s second-richest man came as several newspapers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/usa-today-other-newspapers-drop-dilbert-over-creator-scott-adams-racially-charged-comments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dropped</a> the “Dilbert” cartoon after creator Scott Adams remarked that nearly half of black Americans could not agree with the phrase “it’s okay to be white” in a recent survey. Adams jested that he has been “identifying as black” for some time but must have accidentally joined a “hate group” and recommended that white Americans “get the hell away from black people.”
Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1629764614870167552?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to a social media post noting that outlets such as the San Francisco Chronicle called Adams racist but gave black Americans who do not believe “it’s okay to be white” a free pass. He observed that American media “was racist against non-white people” for a very long time but is now “racist against” whites and Asians. “Same thing happened with elite colleges and high schools in America,” he added. “Maybe they can try not being racist.”
Media outlets have advanced the notion that purported white supremacy is a primary threat to the population of the United States. New York Times and Daily Beast contributor Wajahat Ali recently said during an <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/02/20/msnbc-guest-haley-uses-brown-skin-to-launder-racism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> on MSNBC that Republican presidential candidate and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley “uses her brown skin as a weapon against poor black folks and poor brown-black folks” and to “launder white supremacist talking points.” Left-wing commentators blamed the March 2021 shooting at a supermarket in Colorado on “white violence” before news broke that the shooter was a Syrian Muslim immigrant; The Washington Post then ran an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/08/did-boulder-shooting-count-white-male-violence-depends-how-you-define-white/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> stating that one’s verdict on the matter “depends on how you define white.”
Such assertions have gained a foothold in the federal government: the Biden administration has <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/19/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-administration-advances-equity-and-opportunity-for-black-americans-and-communities-across-the-country/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ordered</a> internal efforts to “root out white supremacy and extremism” within agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, while Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) filed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-democrat-files-bill-to-prosecute-conspiracy-to-commit-white-supremacy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legislation</a> to codify “conspiracy to commit white supremacy” in federal hate crime laws.
With respect to the education system, evidence suggests that elite universities disadvantage white and Asian students to attain higher levels of racial and cultural diversity. One study from 2009 concluded that Asians required an SAT score roughly 140 points higher than white applicants, 270 points higher than Hispanic applicants, and 450 points higher than black applicants, according to a <a href="https://asianamericanforeducation.org/en/issue/discrimination-on-admissions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Asian American Coalition for Education.
The Supreme Court recently heard cases regarding the legitimacy of affirmative action in the higher education system; members of the conservative majority were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/clarence-thomas-ive-heard-the-word-diversity-and-i-dont-have-a-clue-what-it-means" target="_blank" rel="noopener">skeptical</a> that racial diversity truly offers educational benefits. “I’ve heard the word ‘diversity’ quite a few times, and I don’t have a clue what it means,” Justice Clarence Thomas said during oral arguments. “It seems to mean everything for everyone.”
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-105511">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
Racial bias in the education system also exists in purported anti-racism trainings, which gained popularity after the death of George Floyd in 2020. Materials for teachers have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pizza-hut-pushes-anti-racism-training-for-teachers-talks-of-americas-history-of-police-brutality-and-systemic-racism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that “racism exists within and beyond schools and communities of learning” and that “the myth of a racial hierarchy remains a dominant part of America’s culture.” One training from a school district in Washington <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/school-anti-racism-training-reportedly-includes-pyramid-of-white-supremacy-pie-of-privilege" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that “police brutality” and “mass incarceration” sit at the top of the “Pyramid of White Supremacy.”

NORWAY-INDUSTRY-BUSINESS-ENERGY-OIL-GAS

Elon Musk: Media Climate, Education System Are ‘Racist Against Whites And Asians’

Elon Musk Says Media And Education System Are 'Racist Against Whites And Asians'

Asian American

Elon Musk

Racial Bias

Racism

White Supremacy

National Public Radio (NPR) announced Wednesday the network plans to cut the majority of vacant positions and slash around 10% of its current staff — approximately 100 employees — amid a &#8220;sharp decline&#8221; in advertisement revenues.
In a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/22/1158710498/npr-layoffs-2023#:~:text=via%20Getty%20Images-,NPR%20will%20cut%2010%25%20of%20its%20workforce%2C%20CEO%20John%20Lansing,a%20slowdown%20in%20advertising%20dollars.&amp;text=NPR's%20chief%20executive%20announced%20the,and%20eliminate%20most%20vacant%20positions.">memo</a> distributed to NPR staff on Wednesday, CEO John Lansing broke the news nearly three months after pledging the nonprofit media organization would attempt to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/30/1139888190/npr-budget-shortfall-20-million">avoid layoffs</a> as the network said it would lose approximately $10 million from the current fiscal year budget.
&#8220;Our financial outlook has darkened considerably over recent weeks,&#8221; Lansing wrote in the memo published by <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/npr-layoffs-10-percent-job-cuts-john-lansing-1235331693/">The Hollywood Reporter</a>. &#8220;At a time when we are doing some of our most ambitious and essential work, the global economy remains uncertain. As a result, the ad industry has weakened and we are grappling with a sharp decline in our revenues from corporate sponsors.&#8221;
According to the outlet, the company employs over 700 individuals, with about 490 people filling the newsroom and 230 staff members in the programming division.
&#8220;When we say we are eliminating filled positions, we are talking about our colleagues — people whose skills, spirit and talents help make NPR what it is today,&#8221; Lansing wrote in the memo. &#8220;This will be a major loss.&#8221;&#8216;
Lansing told NPR staffers that officials had created a plan to address a $20 million sponsorship revenue fall-off for the current fiscal year, but new projections show at least a $30 million shortfall.
&#8220;The cuts we have already made to our budget will not be enough,&#8221; he said, adding that officials don&#8217;t see signs of recovery in the ad space market.
&#8220;Nothing is nailed down yet except the principles and what we know we have to reach,&#8221; he said.
It is unknown which NPR employees could face unemployment at this point. Still, Lansing noted that the job cuts would not fall evenly across the board, vowing to ensure &#8220;employees of color&#8221; would not be disproportionately affected, NPR reported.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t anticipate that it would be like a haircut across every division, because that&#8217;s just not management,&#8221; Lansing says. &#8220;Management is about committing to strategy, making tough decisions.&#8221;
The network reported officials would make final decisions on which employees would be laid off toward the end of March.
Multiple media companies have been announcing layoffs over the past few months.
Last month, Vox announced layoffs that will impact 7% of employees as other companies in the sector implement similar measures. Meanwhile, Gannett and Spotify cut about 6% of their workforce, and CNN axed its streaming service CNN+ and dismissed hundreds of employees in December after joining the Warner Discovery family.
Layoffs at prominent legacy media outlets also come as companies in the technology sector dismiss thousands of employees. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon revealed their intentions to reduce headcount by a combined 40,000 workers over the past few weeks.
 Ben Zeisloft contributed to this report.

US-BUSINESS-NPR

NPR Sees ‘Sharp Decline’ In Ad Revenue, Announces 10% Of Staff Face Layoffs

NPR Sees 'Sharp Decline' In Ad Revenue, Announces 10% Of Staffers Face Layoffs 

Leftist

Media

National Public Radio (NPR)

Woke Culture

Podcast host Megyn Kelly bashed CNN CEO Chris Licht for not acting more harshly after CNN host Don Lemon’s incendiary comments about women being “past their prime.”
Lemon precipitated outrage from both the political Left and Right after <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/tv/things-get-awkward-after-don-lemon-dings-nikki-haley-by-insisting-women-are-in-their-prime-in-their-20s-30s-and-40s/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claiming</a> that former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), 51, was no longer “in her prime.” Haley, in an apparent shot at President Biden, had stated that many American politicians were not “in their prime” and suggested a cognitive test for political candidates who were over 75 years old.
&#8220;This whole talk about age makes me uncomfortable. I think it’s the wrong road to go down. She says people, you know, politicians are suddenly not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry, when a woman is in their prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” Lemon said in response.
During a recent show, Kelly discussed a report that said that Lemon would face &#8220;recourse&#8221; from Licht &#8220;if the same stupid things become a trend.&#8221; Lemon, who will return to CNN on Wednesday, was required to go through sensitivity training.
“I tweeted out, ‘If?’ I realize he only took over about a year ago but there’s a history here. Hello? Hello?” Kelly said, before referencing “Back to the Future,” quipping, “MacFly?”
“Here’s how I see this latest decision by Chris Licht. Here’s a question I have for him. Do women matter? Do we matter? Because it shouldn’t have to be that you were raped by a man or 21 women come forward alleging that they were sexually harassed by a man or they were inappropriately touched by a man for their offense to matter. Because we have seen person after person get fired because they caused offense, mere offense, when it comes to race, when it comes to sexual orientation, when it comes to gender identity,&#8221; she said.
“Does women’s offense matter? “ she pressed. “Does it matter? Because this guy managed to piss off half the country. And it’s not Left or Right, it’s male or female, and by the way, a lot of the men are with us. You don’t have to be a #MeToo supporter to be irritated and offended by what Don Lemon said. This one’s not breaking down along partisan lines”
“Does our offense matter to CNN or does someone have to grab a boob for us to count, Chris Licht?” she fired. “That&#8217;s my question to you.”
Then she referred to Lemon&#8217;s “formal training” after the incident. “Because Don Lemon’s ‘reeducation camp’ is a farce. It’s a lie and we know it. No one’s fooled by your stupid fig leaf,” she said.

Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2018 – Day 2

‘Does Someone Have To Grab A Boob For Us To Count?’: Megyn Kelly Bashes CNN Prez For Not Punishing Don Lemon

Megyn Kelly Bashes CNN Prez For Not Punishing Don Lemon

Don Lemon

Megyn Kelly

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/new-york-times" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Times</a> claimed that concerns about the potentially hazardous effects from the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ohio-train-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">train derailment</a> in East Palestine, Ohio, are overblown by “right-wing commentators&#8221; that seek to &#8220;sow distrust&#8221; in government agencies.
Local and state authorities previously evacuated all residents within one mile of the derailment and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/evacuation-ordered-ohio-governor-warns-major-explosion-could-send-shrapnel-a-mile-from-derailed-train" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started</a> a controlled burn of industrial chemicals present on the train to decrease the risk of an explosion, which could have propelled shrapnel throughout the small town. Vinyl chloride, a carcinogen used to manufacture PVC, was released from five train cars in the form of massive plumes of dark smoke visible throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
Despite multiple state and federal agencies insisting that the air and water supplies were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/they-should-be-willing-to-drink-it-epa-says-water-is-safe-after-ohio-train-crash-j-d-vance-invites-him-to-take-a-sip" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not affected</a> by the incident, residents and first responders have noted a lingering smell in the air, an oily chemical sheen in local creeks and rivers, sudden deaths among wildlife and livestock, and worrisome health impacts such as sore throats and headaches. Carter Andrews, who is part of a team of staff members with The Daily Wire <a href="https://twitter.com/cartertheepic/status/1626425447335469056" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on the ground</a> in East Palestine, said his “eyes sting” and his “head is throbbing” after spending time in the town.
Stuart Thompson, a reporter with The New York Times who covers “misinformation and disinformation,” admitted in a Thursday <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/ohio-train-derailment-chernobyl.html?smid=tw-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> that the smell and the dead wildlife are worrying residents. He nevertheless claimed that the handful of media outlets covering the incident, especially those which lean conservative, are exaggerating the possible impact of the crisis.
“For many commentators from across the political spectrum, the speculation has gone far beyond known facts,” Thompson wrote. “Right-wing commentators have been particularly critical, using the crisis to sow distrust about government agencies and suggest that the damage could be irreparable.”
Thompson noted that some commentators have indeed speculated that the disaster could be “Chernobyl 2.0” or could have been the result of a “planned attack.” He meanwhile took statements from the EPA and other agencies claiming that air and water supplies are safe at face value.
“They warned, without evidence, that vital water reservoirs serving states downriver could be badly contaminated. And they suggested that the authorities, railroad companies and mainstream news media were purposefully obscuring the full toll of the crisis,” he continued. “The EPA has said air quality has returned to safe levels. Residents have been allowed to return. A chemical odor lingers because people can smell the contaminants even when they are far below hazardous concentrations, according to the agency. Water testing found ‘no indication of risk’ to public water systems so far.”
The article from The New York Times comes as several legacy media outlets granted <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/three-legacy-media-outlets-have-spent-less-than-30-combined-minutes-covering-ohio-train-crash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">minimal attention</a> to the derailment and subsequent fallout. Analysts from the Media Research Center examined all broadcast coverage of the incident between February 4 and February 14; the conservative nonprofit <a href="https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/bill-dagostino/curtis-houck/2023/02/14/networks-abandoned-ohio-train-disaster-despite-continued-fallout" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concluded</a> that CBS devoted a mere 9 minutes and 53 seconds of total airtime to the scandal, while ABC had 9 minutes and 31 seconds, followed by NBC with 8 minutes and 52 seconds.
“Rather than healthy skepticism, reporters approached statements by Norfolk Southern and the Ohio EPA, both of whom had a blatant incentive to downplay the seriousness of the situation, with slavish credulity,” analysts at the Media Research Center noted. “Perhaps this explains why they haven’t gone back to the story: because they abandoned it too early before asking any meaningful questions. For the broadcast networks to revisit East Palestine now would be to admit that their prior abandonment of it was an error born out of laziness and a lack of curiosity.”

OHIO1

Ohio Chemical Fallout Fears Overblown By ‘Right-Wing Commentators,’ New York Times Claims

New York Times Takes EPA Statements At Face Value, Claims Ohio Chemical Fallout Fears Overblown By 'Right-Wing Commentators'

Chemicals

Disasters

Health

New York Times

Ohio Train Disaster

The latest edition of the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> Files from investigative journalist Matt Taibbi revealed that <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">media</a> outlets, academics, and policymakers who cited an initiative meant to track supposed <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/russia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Russian</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/propaganda" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disinformation</a> fell for a not-so-elaborate scam.
Hamilton 68, a computerized dashboard that monitored purported Russian bot infiltration, tracked 644 accounts supposedly linked to &#8220;Russian influence activities online,” according to an <a href="https://www.racket.news/p/move-over-jayson-blair-meet-hamilton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> and a social media <a href="https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1619029772977455105" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thread</a> posted by Taibbi. Executives at Twitter “reverse-engineered” the list of accounts out of a concern that the users were influencing the American political conversation on behalf of the Russians. Only 36 of the 644 accounts were registered in Russia, while many of the rest were ordinary American accounts.
Executives wrote in internal company emails that the accounts were “​​neither strongly Russian nor strongly bots” and concluded there was “no evidence to support the statement that the dashboard is a finger on the pulse of Russian information.”
Yoel Roth, the social media company’s former Trust and Safety lead, characterized the project as “bulls***” in one of the messages. He noted that the site “falsely accuses a bunch of legitimate right-leaning accounts of being Russian bots” and earns “traction around partisan trends” to assert that “any right-leaning content is propagated by Russian bots.”
The project was launched by former FBI agent Clint Watts and received backing from the German Marshall Fund and the Alliance for Securing Democracy. The latter entity, a bipartisan think tank, has an advocacy panel that includes former acting CIA Director Michael Morell, former American ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, current Biden administration senior adviser John Podesta, and Bulwark editor-at-large Bill Kristol.
Allegations of collusion with Russia similarly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/in-other-words-it-was-made-up-jim-jordan-rips-trump-russia-conspiracy-after-latest-durham-filing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">followed</a> former President Donald Trump throughout his administration; Robert Mueller, a special counsel appointed by the Justice Department, investigated claims that the Trump campaign illegally coordinated with Russian agents to influence the 2016 election, eventually concluding that no such evidence existed.
Taibbi found that media outlets such as NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Mother Jones cited supposed data on Russian disinformation from Hamilton 68 on “hundreds if not thousands” of occasions. He noted that the outlets often used the dashboard to discredit various political figures, such as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/russian-web-trolls-boo-biden-often-boost-gabbard-report-finds-n1085216?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tulsi Gabbard</a> and <a href="https://observer.com/2018/09/russian-propagandists-brett-kavanaugh-controversy-division-online/?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brett Kavanaugh</a>, by linking them to purported disinformation operations.
Academics at postsecondary institutions like Harvard University and Princeton University also cited Hamilton 68, as did lawmakers such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Social media users contacted by Taibbi were surprised to learn they were supposed purveyors of Russian disinformation. Conservative writer David Horowitz and businessman Dennis Michael Lynch were implicated in the Hamilton 68 list, as were “a range of political dissidents, including leftists, anarchists, and humorists,” according to Taibbi.
Many were unsuspecting everyday Americans. “I am a 73-year-old snowbird in Florida,” one individual said. “Supposedly in a free world, we are being watched at many levels, by what we say online,” said another individual, who told Taibbi she had experienced political persecution in Lebanon before moving to the West.
Previous editions of the Twitter Files, an initiative from independent journalists based on emails and other internal company documents provided by Twitter CEO Elon Musk, have shown that federal law enforcement <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-new-twitter-files-shows-how-federal-state-governments-monitor-americans-social-media-posts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">policed content</a> on the platform and asked executives to remove certain posts. There existed “an organized effort by representatives of the intelligence community” aimed at “senior executives at news and social media companies,” according to journalist Michael Shellenberger.

Elon Musk Acquires Twitter

New ‘Twitter Files’ Drop Shows Prominent Media Source For Supposed ‘Russian Disinformation’ Was A Fraud

New 'Twitter Files' Drop Shows Prominent Media Source For Supposed 'Russian Disinformation' Was A Fraud

Propaganda

Russia

Russiagate

Twitter

Left-leaning media outlets misled their readers when they touted a new study that purported to show mental health benefits of child sex change treatments, according to one of the first journalists to cover the subject.
The <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2206297" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a>, published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, analyzed data collected between 2016-2019 from four prominent pediatric gender clinics and found that depression only lessened for females after taking testosterone, which has known antidepressant effects; the males in the study, who were conversely given estrogen which does not have antidepressant properties, saw no improvement to their well-being. Despite this, at least six news outlets lauded the new study as proof that &#8220;gender-affirming care&#8221; improves teens&#8217; mental health, without distinguishing between the profoundly different results of females from males.  
&#8220;Depression and anxiety symptoms decreased significantly, and life satisfaction increased significantly, among youth designated female at birth but not among those designated male at birth,&#8221; the discussion section of the study pointed out.
Media outlets, including The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/trans-teens-benefit-from-gender-affirming-care/2023/01/20/955f807c-98bd-11ed-a173-61e055ec24ef_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/gender-affirming-care-trans-youth-improves-mental-health/story?id=96510337" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC News</a>, <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2023/01/18/mental-health-benefits-of-gender-affirming-hormones-for-teens-persist-two-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">STAT News</a>, <a href="https://www.popsci.com/health/gender-affirming-hormones-transgender-youth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Popular Science</a>, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-01-19/hormonal-therapies-are-boosting-the-mental-health-of-trans-youth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HealthDay</a>, and <a href="https://theeagle.com/opinion/columnists/trans-teens-benefit-from-gender-affirming-care/article_08c37dce-181a-5c2f-a021-b372b104025d.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Eagle</a>, as well as many individual posts on social media, have been accused of misrepresenting the results of the study by insinuating that the mental health of both sexes improved after cross-sex hormone treatment. Absent from the glowing coverage from media outlets are the two study participants who committed suicide and 11 who struggled with suicidal ideation.
Jesse Singal, one of the first journalists to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/when-a-child-says-shes-trans/561749/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> on the rapid proliferation of trans-identification among teenage girls in 2018, called the media coverage of the study by leftwing outlets &#8220;irresponsible.&#8221;
&#8220;Journalists continue to botch this SO badly,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1616164935821574147?s=20&amp;t=juqV1kwKLhAeq2Z-5kFMwA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Singal, noting the lack of caveats, weaknesses, and missing context of different outcomes between the sexes. 
&#8220;Testosterone and estrogen are totally different chemicals, and [testosterone] is believed to have antidepressant effects,&#8221; he <a href="https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1616117717987098624?s=20&amp;t=juqV1kwKLhAeq2Z-5kFMwA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>.
Androgens, including testosterone, are the hormones that give men their secondary sex characteristics, such as facial hair, deeper voices, more upper-body strength, and other male-related traits developed during puberty. Testosterone is frequently prescribed to adolescent females who &#8220;identify&#8221; as transgender “boys” and has <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/about/press-releases/research-and-journals/exploring-the-antidepressant-effects-of-testosterone" target="_blank" rel="noopener">well-documented</a> <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0941950019300119" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mood-boosting</a> properties. According to a 2016 cross-sex hormonal treatment <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4977075/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> of patients with gender dysphoria, androgens &#8220;can reduce mental distress, promoting feelings of euphoria and energy.&#8221; 
Also missing from the study are confounding variables that may have contributed to females&#8217; improved well-being, including the impact of psychotropic medication like antidepressants and psychotherapy, which have been independently shown to improve mental health. Researchers have also <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-022-02472-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posed</a> a &#8220;placebo effect&#8221; hypothesis, in which the expectation of benefits from treatment has been shown to induce psychological improvement.
Another concerning revelation is the study&#8217;s opening line, which reports that &#8220;transgender and nonbinary youth comprise 2 to 9% of high-school-aged persons in the United States.&#8221; The 9% figure comes from a <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/147/6/e2020049823/180292/Prevalence-of-Gender-Diverse-Youth-in-an-Urban?autologincheck=redirected" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 analysis</a> of more than 3,000 surveys on trans-identification in urban school environments. 
The study was funded by a <a href="https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-HD082554-01A1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research grant</a> from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that seeks to examine the impact of early medical treatment on trans-identified youth. Participants were recruited from well-known pediatric gender clinics, including the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles from July 2016 through June 2019 for the Trans Youth Care–United States (TYCUS) Study.
Short-term follow-ups, like this two-year study, by design, are unable to capture long-term feelings about medical transition. Even the Dutch studies, often hailed as the &#8220;gold standard&#8221; of evidence supporting medically transitioning trans-identified children, were found to be extremely deficient, according to a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-study-finds-methodological-flaws-and-significant-risk-of-harm-in-dutch-protocol-for-pediatric-medical-transition" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new analysis</a>. 
Claims from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/researcher-debunks-claim-trans-youths-mental-health-improves-with-gender-affirming-care" target="_blank" rel="noopener">past studies</a> about the clear mental health benefits of “gender affirming” medical treatments for trans-identifying youth are often exaggerated and misleading. <a href="https://twitter.com/LeorSapir" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Leor Sapir</a>, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, found that claims of causality frequently cited by news outlets are not supported by evidence and that some of the studies commonly touted as demonstrating positive mental health outcomes show no or possibly even negative association between hormones and mental health.

Prescription form with sign hormone therapy.

Legacy Media Misrepresents Results Of New Study On Child Sex Change Treatments

Misinformation

Science

Transgender

United States

Joe Rogan slammed legacy media for its &#8220;sh***y format&#8221; and said &#8220;it&#8217;s way less popular&#8221; than it&#8217;s ever been in history, naming CNN and evening news.
During Spotify&#8217;s &#8220;The Joe Rogan Experience&#8221; <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/177plfcE2xWKrOJUfnn13S?si=fvpV2ozeTgSNghfTMCkO8g">podcast</a> on Saturday, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-rogan">podcast host</a> was speaking with comedian <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/louis-ck">Louis C.K.</a> about the media&#8217;s coverage of gruesome stories like the school shooting at Sandy Hook and 9-11, as the two agreed the media has always done this, calling it &#8220;obscene.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s messed up. It&#8217;s obscene and it&#8217;s normal. And that&#8217;s what they operate under. That&#8217;s their currency,&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/joe-rogan-has-change-of-heart-explains-why-will-smith-has-to-be-forgiven-after-chris-rock-slap">Rogan</a> replied, noting that with the media &#8220;there&#8217;s a diffusion of responsibility when you work for a large corporation.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“It’s way less popular than it’s ever been in human history.”
Joe Rogan and Louis CK discuss the downfall of legacy corporate media. <a href="https://t.co/AqSwSiSSyy">pic.twitter.com/AqSwSiSSyy</a>
&mdash; Mythinformed MKE (@MythinformedMKE) <a href="https://twitter.com/MythinformedMKE/status/1617554388897222656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;It&#8217;s a job that has to get done,&#8221; he added, noting the media&#8217;s response.
C.K. recalled being in the Fox News studio once, sitting in the control room when President Barack Obama was &#8220;making a speech&#8221; and he claimed no one was listening to the speech on any of the cameras in the room, yet commented on it afterward.
He said it happens at MSNBC and CNN too, &#8220;they&#8217;re not thinking about anything. They already know their reaction and they gotta come in with it really quick&#8221; because it&#8217;s got to get in people&#8217;s phones before another news outlet. &#8220;It&#8217;s entertainment.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fing-bravo-joe-rogan-takes-swipe-at-biden-administration-over-talk-about-gas-stove-ban">Rogan</a> agreed and said it&#8217;s &#8220;entertainment disguised as news for minimally engaged, casual viewers.&#8221;
&#8220;Because it&#8217;s not really people that are completely locked in for the most part,&#8221; the host explained. &#8220;Most people are just flipping through the channels and you know something outrageous &#8230; [hearing a reporter criticizing someone as bad for America.] But if you don&#8217;t say that they aren&#8217;t going to pay attention.&#8221;
&#8220;Then they [corporate media] is going to lose out on that Pfizer dollars that&#8217;s going to come through in the ad break,&#8221; he added. Because of the format, it&#8217;s just a trick to get you to watch a commercial for Colgate.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wants-crime-to-flourish-joe-rogan-slams-soros-as-an-evil-villain-in-superhero-movie">Rogan</a> told his guest that corporate media &#8220;is way less popular than it&#8217;s ever been in human history. Like in the history of news, the evening news, CNN, those things, are less popular than they have ever been.&#8221;
&#8220;And it&#8217;s because people are tired of it,&#8221; the podcast host shared. &#8220;It&#8217;s a sh***y format and in comparison to long-form discussions, independent interview shows &#8230; podcasts where people have nuanced perspectives. If you really want to understand what&#8217;s going on in the world, complicated issues, invasion of Ukraine by Russia, you need people to break it down to you. They aren&#8217;t going to get it in five minutes.&#8221;
&#8220;You are going to get &#8216;they hate us for our freedom,&#8221; he added. &#8220;That&#8217;s what you are going to get in five minutes. You are going to get nonsense talking points.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fing-bravo-joe-rogan-takes-swipe-at-biden-administration-over-talk-about-gas-stove-ban">&#8216;F***ing Bravo&#8217;: Joe Rogan Takes Swipe At Biden Administration Over Talk About Gas Stove Ban</a>

Louis CK, Joe Rogan-2

‘Sh***y Format’: Joe Rogan And Louis C.K. Slam Corporate Media

Entertainment

Joe Rogan

Louis CK

Five non-profit groups published a <a href="https://cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Climate-Fact-Check-2022_v793.pdf">report</a> Wednesday debunking mainstream media claims about the disastrous impacts of the so-called climate change crisis this year, which also included receiving millions of dollars to fund climate coverage.
The &#8220;Climate Fact Check 2022&#8221; report created by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the Heartland Institute, Energy &amp; Environment Legal Institute, Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), and the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) highlighted ten fact checks of climate disaster claims made by several media outlets like The Associated Press, which took $8 million in donations from left-wing philanthropy groups to cover climate change.
&#8220;Climate alarmists and their media allies once again made a slew of claims about natural disasters being caused by manmade emissions in 2022,&#8221; the report reads. &#8220;And once again, these claims clashed with reality and science.&#8221;
According to the report, The Associated Press received donations from large foundations pushing climate alarmism for decades. Such groups included the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Quadrivium, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation.
One example the report included came from an article written by AP reporter Seth Borenstein, called &#8220;New abnormal: Climate disaster damage &#8216;down&#8217; to $268 billion,&#8221; which said some worldwide natural disasters like the Pakistan floods, Hurricane Ian, and droughts stretching from Europe to China were &#8220;turbocharged by human-caused climate change.&#8221;
According to the Climate Fact Check report, the Pakistan floods and the 2022 monsoon season were within the range of natural variability and the wettest since 1961.
&#8220;If emissions are to blame, why was it so rainy then?&#8221; the report reads. &#8220;Also, average peak monsoonal rainfall actually has declined somewhat since the 1950s,&#8221; adding that ongoing deforestation has also worsened seasonal monsoon flooding.
Mainstream media outlets blamed Hurricane Ian, the category four disaster that was the deadliest hurricane to strike Florida since 1935, on climate change for the storm&#8217;s rapid intensification. Still, the report references the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which points out that the Atlantic basin hurricane activity is within natural variability after a historically quiet first few months of hurricane season.
BBC News reported that Europe experienced its most severe drought in 500 years. However, the report asks if emissions produced by coal-fired power plants, SUVs, and cheeseburgers caused the lack of rainfall, then what happened in the European mega-drought in 1540?
&#8220;Is this money funding actual journalism or just rank political activism?&#8221; the report asks.
The Associated Press admitted in a report published earlier this year that the news organization received $8 million over three years from various groups, leading to the media group employing more than 24 journalists across the globe to cover &#8220;climate issues.&#8221;
Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/liberal-media-dubious-claims-climate-change-year-end-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> AP News Vice President Brian Carovillano claimed to only accept money &#8220;without strings attached,&#8221; adding the news media does not cover stories influenced by donors.
Steve Milloy, a senior legal fellow at the Energy &amp; Environment Legal Institute, told Fox News Digital that &#8220;it&#8217;s hard to claim [The Associate Press] is news&#8221; when the reporters cover only one side of the climate discourse, adding that the organization became a &#8220;propaganda outfit&#8221; for leftist organizations with climate agendas.
Milloy said leftist media networks have been pushing &#8220;climate hysteria&#8221; for 30 years with little to show for their dire predictions.
&#8220;Instead of moving on to something else, they&#8217;re doubling down on this, and they&#8217;re making themselves look worse at the same time,&#8221; he added.
Other major media corporations such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal were also fact checked by the non-profit organizations over climate alarmist claims.
&#8220;But are damages from those disasters really attributable to ‘climate change’ or are climate activists and their media mouthpieces just trying to surf human tragedy to advance their very political cause?&#8221; the report reads.

The Swedish Paper Industry Is At Full Pressure Even When Today’s Energy Is A Major Problem

Left-Wing Groups Funded Climate Alarmism Journalism, Claims Debunked: Report

Climate Change

Liberalism

Journalist Matt Taibbi, who is playing a lead role in exposing Twitter&#8217;s prior <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/social-media-censorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">censorship</a> regime, told Daily Wire Editor Emeritus <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/author/ben-shapiro" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ben Shapiro</a> Friday that the platform&#8217;s top content cops did indeed actively discuss suppressing him.
Multiple installments of the &#8220;Twitter Files,&#8221; a set of internal documents Twitter CEO <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> recently provided to Taibbi and others handpicked by new owner Elon Musk have shown that the platform had several ways of silencing conservatives. From shadow banning, where users&#8217; visibility to others is obscured, all the way up to outright suspensions, a small cabal of Twitter managers meddled with accounts, sometimes making up the rules as they went along. Shapiro, who suspects he was shadow banned, came close to having the whole Twitter toolbox thrown at him by what Taibbi called the platform&#8217;s &#8220;Supreme Court of moderation.&#8221;
“They actually decided in that case not to slam you,” Taibbi said during Friday&#8217;s episode of “The Ben Shapiro Show,&#8221; one of Taibbi&#8217;s first interviews since taking on the Twitter Files project. “But for sure you were being discussed.”
Shapiro, who said that his account has gained roughly one million new followers in the month since Musk acquired the platform, said that he adopted various rhetorical tactics in order to avoid censorship.
<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ben-shapiro-show/id1047335260" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE LATEST EPISODE OF “THE BEN SHAPIRO SHOW”</a>
“I was always extremely careful on Twitter as to what I thought their standards were, and so I tended to use sarcasm instead of just straight out saying what I meant,” Shapiro said. “So instead of getting banned for saying that ‘a man is a man and a woman is a woman,’ I would say that a man who said that he was a woman was in fact ‘the most womanly woman that has ever womaned.’ That was my sort of end-around.”
Twitter executives insisted for several years that no censorship or shadow banning of conservatives had ever occurred on the platform. Shapiro noticed the lack of journalistic interest from mainstream outlets despite news of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/twitter-files-part-iii-twitter-worked-in-coordination-with-u-s-government-to-censor-content-during-2020-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cooperation</a> between corporate America and government agencies such as the FBI to suppress entire subsets of the national discourse.
“I think a lot of it is more just hive-mind narrative policing,” Taibbi, a former contributing editor for Rolling Stone, said when asked about the phenomenon. “This story doesn’t fit neatly into a category that they would like. I know old-school journalists would have been very interested in this story because we’re getting a look at stuff you never get to see.”
Taibbi noted that such publications’ failure to cover the Twitter Files is “really more of a burn on them than they realize,” as mainstream America finds the story fascinating. Many outlets had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-the-news-outlets-that-spread-twitter-execs-lies-about-not-shadow-banning-conservatives" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spent years</a> uncritically parroting the claim that Twitter had not been censoring content, often mocking conservatives who nevertheless insisted that their pages were artificially subdued.
Shapiro observed the irony of journalists who “work for corporate outlets that are owned by extraordinarily rich people,” such as The Washington Post, which is owned by Jeff Bezos, and The New York Times, which is controlled by the Sulzberger family, criticizing Taibbi and other independent reporters for purportedly “doing the bidding of the world’s richest man.” Taibbi remarked that legitimate journalists engage with evidence in accordance with the facts, no matter who the findings may benefit or detriment.
“I actually laughed out loud when I saw somebody from Bloomberg giving me a hard time and using that line,” Taibbi replied. “If you work for Mike Bloomberg permanently and you’re going to give me a hard time about doing one story in conjunction with Elon Musk, that’s just laughable. But as journalists, we don’t care where the material comes from. As long as it’s true, we can verify its authenticity and we can verify that it’s newsworthy.”
Taibbi said that Musk has so far been “genuinely interested in transparency” and harbors a “genuine distaste for certain kinds of internet censorship.” The billionaire entrepreneur <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-elon-musk-explains-why-he-bought-twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told the public</a> that he acquired the social media company for $44 billion to foster a space for respectful disagreement in the public square.

Collage Maker-16-Dec-2022-12.54-PM

‘Twitter Files’ Journalist Matt Taibbi Confirms Platform’s ‘Supreme Court’ Had Ben Shapiro In Its Sights

Journalist Behind Twitter Files Confirms Ben Shapiro Was Discussed Among Censors

Ben Shapiro

Social Media Censorship

The Ben Shapiro Show

Footage of employees at <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/washington-post" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a> lambasting company leadership over pending <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/unemployment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">layoffs</a> surfaced online as executives plan to reconfigure the paper’s operations.
The outlet will conduct targeted layoffs constituting a single-digit percentage of the overall workforce beginning next year, Washington Post CEO Fred Ryan informed employees at a heated town hall meeting on Wednesday, according to a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/14/media/washington-post-layoffs/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from CNN. He told staff that the company cannot “keep spending on initiatives that no longer align with readers’ interests.”
A video from the meeting posted by Washington Post Correspondent Annie Gowen showed multiple employees shouting questions at Ryan and complaining about the upcoming job losses. “We are not going to turn a town hall into a grievance session,” the executive responded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@washingtonpost</a> publisher Fred Ryan refuses to take staff questions after announcing Q1 layoffs in “Town Hall” <a href="https://twitter.com/PostGuild?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@postguild</a> <a href="https://t.co/C4HOXb6y2C">pic.twitter.com/C4HOXb6y2C</a>
— Annie Gowen (@anniegowen) <a href="https://twitter.com/anniegowen/status/1603071294316199937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Washington Post Chief Communications Officer Kathy Baird confirmed to CNN that the outlet will cut positions next year. “We are planning to direct our resources and invest in coverage, products, and people in service of providing high value to our subscribers and new audiences,” she said. “As a result, a number of positions will be eliminated. We anticipate it will be a single digit percentage of our employee base, and we will finalize those plans over the coming weeks.”
The paper could even increase headcount as the company emphasizes high-growth verticals. The Washington Post Guild nevertheless <a href="https://twitter.com/PostGuild/status/1602773561353146376" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lambasted</a> Ryan and other managers for dismissing features and magazine employees without offering them “jobs elsewhere in the newsroom.” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos purchased the outlet for $250 million in 2013 and named Ryan, a former senior adviser to the late President Ronald Reagan, as chief executive and publisher.
The Washington Post will nix its standalone Sunday print magazine this month as part of the “global and digital transformation,” according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/11/30/washington-post-magazine-ends/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">message</a> to staffers. The 10 employees who ran the publication were told last month in a meeting that their positions had been eliminated.
Following years of profitability, The Washington Post is on track to lose money as revenue from digital advertising in the first half of the year fell to $70 million, marking a 15% decline from the same period last year, according to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/30/business/media/washington-post-jeff-bezos-revenue.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from The New York Times.
Entertainment and media companies have dismissed substantial portions of their payrolls in recent months as macroeconomic tensions persist. Gannett, a media conglomerate that owns more than 250 local news outlets, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/local-journalists-laid-off-as-media-conglomerate-suffers-heavy-losses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that executives would begin “necessary but painful reductions to staffing” while eliminating some open positions.
CNN CEO Christ Licht likewise <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/01/media/cnn-layoffs/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">initiated</a> hundreds of layoffs earlier this month and ended live programming on cable channel HLN. In a memo to employees, Licht <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-chief-lets-go-of-hundreds-of-employees-at-company-guts-sister-network-hln-reports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the goal of the strategic review that led to the dismissals was to “better align our people, processes and resources with our future priorities, strengthen our ability to deliver on CNN’s core journalistic mission and enable us to innovate in the years ahead.”
The layoffs in the media industry occur as investors <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meta-shares-fall-to-lowest-level-since-2016-as-company-burns-billions-on-metaverse-inflates-payrolls" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticize</a> large companies, especially in the technology space, for maintaining bloated payrolls. Many financiers took note as Twitter CEO Elon Musk <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-elon-musk-sends-blunt-message-to-3700-fired-twitter-employees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reduced</a> the social media company’s headcount by two-thirds with no salient impact on the social media platform’s performance.

Washington Post

WATCH: Washington Post Staffers Irate After Layoffs Announced; CEO Balks As ‘Grievance Session’ Unfolds

Washington Post Staffers Irate After Layoffs Announced

Unemployment

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